Earthquake Damage to Schools

Location: Northern Algeria. Damage: $3,000 million. About 9,000 were injured. Extensive
damage occurred in the El Asnam area. This modern school building collapsed at El
Asnam. This school is one of 85 that collapsed during the earthquake. The earthquake
occurred after school hours, and so no loss of life was sustained at this school.

This set of slides graphically illustrates the potential danger that major earthquakes
pose to school structures and to the children and adults who happen to be inside at
the time of the earthquake. It includes pictures from 1886 to 1988. The set includes
nine destructive earthquakes that occurred in the U.S. and eight earthquakes that
occurred in foreign countries. These unusual slides show earthquake damage to school
s and university buildings around the world. They graphically illustrate the potential
danger to our schools, and to the welfare of our children, that results from major
earthquakes. The slides range from Algeria, where a collapsed school roof is held
up only by students' desks; to Anchorage, Alaska, where an elementary school structure
has split in half; to California and other areas, where school buildings have sustained
damage to walls, roofs, and chimneys. Interestingly, all the United States earthquakes
depicted in this set of slides occurred either on a holiday or before or after school
hours, except the 1935 tremor in Helena, Montana, which occurred at 11:35 a.m. It
undoubtedly would have caused casualties had the schools not been closed days earlier
by Helena city officials because of a damaging foreshock. Students in Algeria, the
People's Republic of China, Armenia, and other stricken countries were not so fortunate.
This set of slides represents 17 destructive earthquakes that occurred in 9 countries,
and covers more than a century--from 1886 to 1988. Two of the tremors, both of which
occurred in the United States, were magnitude 8+ on the Richter Scale, and four were
magnitude 7-7.9. The events represented by the slides (see table below) claimed more
than a quarter of a million lives. List Of Earthquakes represented in the slide set
are: Algeria: El Asnam, Armenian SSR: Spitak, Australia: Cadoux, Ecuador: Esmeraldas,
Mexico: Veracruz, People's Republic of China: Tangshan, Peru: Lima, Turkey: Lice,
USA: Alaska: Anchorage, California: San Francisco, Long Beach, Kern County, Coalinga,
Montana: Hebgen Lake, Helena, South Carolina: CharlestonIn the following descriptions
of earthquakes the location is only approximate. The damage is in millions of U.S.
dollars.

Access Constraints: None Use Constraints: None Distribution Liability: While every
effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the
limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages
caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the
data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied,
nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

Access Constraints

Access Constraints: None Use Constraints: None Distribution Liability: While every
effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the
limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages
caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the
data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied,
nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.